Relationships Between Self-Efficacy, Coping and Student Retention

Abstract

Relationships between self-efficacy, coping and retention among first-year undergraduate students were investigated. Qualitative methods were used to develop a self-efficacy measure assessing confidence to achieve those competencies required to successfully complete the first year of an undergraduate degree. One hundred and thirty-one first-year students completed a 40-item self-efficacy questionnaire and the MCOPE (Crocker & Graham, 1995) at the start of the academic year. Factor analysis indicated a coherent 5-factor model that described self-efficacy to manage time, use learning resources, work in groups, work well in lectures, and communicate. Results indicated that the coping strategies of planning and seeking social support for instrumental purposes significantly related to more than one self-efficacy factor and that self-efficacy scores taken at the start of the course could correctly classify 81.3% of students who subsequently withdrew. Findings lend insight into the association between strategies used to cope with environmental and interpersonal demands, and self-efficacy to cope with the demands of an undergraduate degree.

Measuring the beginning: a quantitative study of the transition to higher education

“…The authors report reliability coefficients ranging between .90 and .92. According to some researchers general measures of self-efficacy have less predictive ability (Devonport and Lane 2006) and using self-efficacy instruments directly corresponding to the task enhances prediction (Pajares 2002). However, new first-year students' responses to a specific efficacy scale may be compromised by their unfamiliarity with the context, and so a general scale was employed.…”

“…Self-efficacy has been extensively explored in relation to academic success and retention (Devonport and Lane 2006;Multon, Brown, and Lent 1991). Self-efficacy concerns 'beliefs in one's capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments.'…”

“…It is also possible that the scale used was insufficiently sensitive as general self-efficacy is less reliably measured than situation-specific efficacy (Devonport and Lane, 2006). Pajares (1996) cautions that de-contextualising self-efficacy turns it into a generalised personality trait and as such it may not be predictive.…”

Developing Self-Efficacy through a Massive Open Online Course on Study Skills

“…It is a strong predictor of academic performance and learning (Aurah, 2013;Bartimote-Aufflick, Bridgeman, Walker, Sharma & Smith, 2015). It has also been positively correlated to student retention (Devonport & Lane, 2006;Street, 2010). Beliefs on self-efficacy influence how people feel, think, behave and motivate themselves (Bandura, 1994).…”

An examination of the relationship between sense of coherence, engagement in health behaviors, and individual coping style.

“…Therefore this study will cast further light on the predictive value of the SOC construct within the traditional aged U.S. college student. Additionally, the literature also shows that the use of adaptive coping strategies are associated with lower stress, improved health, and improved academic achievement within the college student population (Devonport & Lane, 2006;Hsieh, Sullivan, Sass, & Guerra, 2012;Mahmoud, Staten, Hall, & Lennie, 2012;Snell et al, 2011). While Antonovsky contends that SOC does not predict a specific coping style, there is evidence in the literature to suggest that a high SOC is associated with a greater tendency to employ more problem-focused coping strategies and a low SOC is associated with more emotion-focused health behaviors.…”